Borovoy said a public-interest group would be prohibited under the new law from clandestinely gathering information from landlords about their rental practices to ensure they aren't discriminating against prospective tenants on racial grounds.

The Labour Committee for Human Rights used such tactics to test for discriminatory practices years ago. The resulting publicity helped pave the way for today's human-rights laws.

''That's what raised public consciousness to the existence of discrimination,'' said Borovoy. ''A bill of this kind ... could have undermined that whole effort.''

THE INTERNET PROVIDES CHEAP PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE

PAUL STARR, The American Prospect, March 27, 2000 - April 10, 2000; Pg. 30 TITLE: The Electronic Commons; THE PROMISE OF THE NEW PUBLIC DOMAIN // acs-VT2001

* Third, the Internet allows cheap production and dissemination of new noncommercial knowledge. Given the costs of earlier media, many people with shared interests have been too dispersed and unconnected to communicate and cooperate with one another, much less to publish their work. The Internet does not just facilitate dialogue among them; it also provides the basis for combining many small contributions into large collaborative endeavors. It allows many people with political, aesthetic, or other interests, who have no expectation of commercial gain, to make their work publicly available for the first time or to expand from local to global communication.